✈️ Buy business-class flights to Europe for $600

Estimated read time: 4 minutes and 55 seconds

Good morning, and welcome back to Daily Drop, the newsletter that, quite literally, runs on Dunkin. ☕️

Although I’ll miss my morning dunks runs in the U.S., I’ve got some good U.S.-based travel tips for you today, so here you go:

• ✈️ Buy business-class flights to Europe for $600

• 🏨 35% transfer bonus to Marriott

• 🌎 Where in the World Wednesday: Lisbon

✈️ Buy business-class flights to Europe for $600

As you know, Alaska and Hawaiian have merged (the airlines, not the states… although that would be the most interesting place in the world).

With that came the ability to freely transfer miles between the two airlines 👀

And while the easiest way to earn Alaska miles thus far has been to transfer MR Points to Hawaiian (then to Alaska), there’s another way that you might not have realized is actually really solid.

Right now, you can BUY Hawaiian miles with a 100% bonus.

Here’s the deal:

• Until November 15th, you’ll get tiered bonuses when buying Hawaiian miles

• Earn 80% bonus miles when you buy 3,000-9,000 miles

• Earn a 100% bonus when buying 10,000 or more miles

• You can buy a maximum of 100,000 miles per transaction, though there is no cap on how many times you can do this 🙌

Buying airline miles is rarely a solid deal. Generally speaking, it really only makes sense to do this when you need to top up your balance to unlock a big award.

But this time, things are different…

Let’s look at two examples. First, an economy flight from the U.S. to Asia.

This flight on American Airlines from Dallas to Tokyo nonstop costs 37,500 Alaska miles (booking AA flights is always one of the best ways to use your Alaska miles).

Since you can transfer Hawaiian miles to Alaska instantly, you could simply purchase 38,000 Hawaiian miles for $483.

After transferring them to Alaska, paying the $19 in taxes and fees, and booking your flight to Japan, your entire out-of-pocket cost for the flight is $502.

That’s pretty solid for a nonstop flight from Texas to Japan, especially when the cash cost for the exact flight on the exact same day is…. Wait for it… over $1,500 🤯

But here’s where things get extra cool… 😎

Let’s look at the Alaska award chart for flights from the U.S. to Europe. As you can see, business-class flights to Europe between 1,501 and 3,500 miles only cost 45,000 miles.

New York to London, for example, is only 3,451 miles - just BARELY within that distance band.

That means you could buy 45,000 miles from Hawaiian, transfer them to Alaska, and book a nonstop flight on American Airlines from JFK to London 🤔

The total cost to buy those miles with this bonus?

$584, plus the $19 in taxes and fees for booking the award flight… in other words, you can BUY a business-class flight to Europe on American Airlines for $603.

I imagine there are many of you who would happily pay $600 to just book straight into business class across the pond.

So here’s the bottom line:

It doesn’t always make sense to buy miles. But with Alaska’s generous award charts and Hawaiian’s generous 100% bonus, we have an opportunity to book both economy and business-class awards on the cheap.

As always, make sure you search for the specific flights you want ahead of time and cross-reference the points price with the cash price of the same flight.

🏨 35% transfer bonus to Marriott

Marriott Bonvoy is the bane of my existence 🤬 

I’m still trying to get elite night credits, points, and refunds from stays that were completed or canceled many months ago. They are truly terrible.

And yet… I spend well over 100 nights a year with them.

As much as I hate them, they are crucial to my travels 🙄

They have a much wider footprint than any other program, offer every fifth night free when using points, and have some of my favorite individual properties in the world.

So when there’s a transfer bonus to Marriott, it’s always something I consider using. For example, there’s a brand new 35% bonus when transferring MR Points to Marriott.

This is far from the best bonus we’ve seen, but it could offer excellent outsize value for the right person with the right stay in mind.

Let me give you an example:

This property in New York City costs 32,000 points per night, or 128,000 points for a 5-night stay (thanks to Marriott’s fifth-night free perk).

With the transfer bonus, you’d only need to send over 95,000 MR Points to book five nights in New York City, which is a solid deal.

The cash cost of the same five nights (after tax) would be a whopping $1,594 😮‍💨

In this case, you’re getting fantastic value for your hard-earned points and a free stay in an otherwise ridiculously expensive city.

So here’s the bottom line:

If you can combine this transfer bonus with Marriott’s fifth-night free perk, you can get some great value when transferring MR Points.

While you can calculate the exact value you’re getting per point, I recommend something different:

Just crunch the numbers, determine how many points you would need to transfer, and see if it feels good to you. 🫶

🌎 Where in the World Wednesday: Lisbon

Oh hey, don’t forget that with Daily Drop Pro not only can you search for flights with points redemptions, but you can also receive alerts for cheap cash deals 😎

And today, DD Pro is highlighting this jaw-dropping $381 round-trip flight to Lisbon, Portugal!

I have easily spent more than $381 this year just fueling my coffee addiction…… So that price for a round-trip flight?

It’s a no-brainer.

This particular flight departs from Vancouver, but as a refresher, you can go into your account and set as many custom parameters as your heart desires.

Have three preferred home airports? How about ten?

Only want to fly to Europe or the Middle East? And only available to do so between February and April next year? No problem!

But now for Lisbon… A city I can smell from miles away…

And that’s because they are obsesssssssed with sardines. They’re practically a national treasure.

If you’re not into the whole fish delicacy thing, lucky for you, there’s plenty else to do 🙃

Here are some favs:

• Go tram spotting for Lisbon’s iconic (and yellow) #28 tram ☝️

• Find all of the city’s famously blue azulejos tiles

• Hike up to the Castle of São Jorge for amazing views of the city and Tagus River

• Browse this interesting candle shop that’s been in business since 1789 😮

• Eat lots of pastel de nata… lots…

Lisbon is a GREAT city, and it’s even greater knowing you can score flights for under $400 😏

To receive cash deals just like this one (and get a whole host of other perks), check out our brilliant travel tool—Daily Drop Pro!

Applying for a new credit card can be exciting but also a little stressful. The anticipation………. 🥵

To be honest, you’re never 100% guaranteed to know if you’ll be approved, BUT there are some things you can do to significantly increase your odds of approval.

In this week’s YouTube video, Brendan shares some tips to help your next credit card application be a successful one 👇

That’s all for today, folks!

I hope you enjoyed today’s tasty travel tips, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow morning.

Take care,

52°22'35.4"N 52°15'17.4"W